Oz Medics Block 'Baby Asha' Deportation

Doctors are refusing to release a baby girl facing repatriation to a migrant detention camp after she was treated for serious burns she suffered there.

The one-year-old, known as "Baby Asha", will not be released from Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane until a "suitable home environment is identified", a hospital spokesman said.

Asha and her parents face being returned to a camp on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, about 1,800 miles (3,000km) northeast of Australia, which has been criticised for housing 500 people in harsh conditions and faced child abuse allegations.

Protesters opposed to the detention of asylum seekers have gathered outside the hospital to show their support for medical staff. It is not known where Asha's parents are originally from.

The case has added to pressure on the government over its tough asylum policy amid reassurances from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that migrants will be treated with compassion and deportation will be decided on a "case-by-case basis".

Australia's High Court rejected a test case earlier in February that challenged the deportation of 267 refugee children and their families who had been brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment.

Australia currently sends asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat to camps on Nauru or Manus island in Papua New Guinea. They are not offered resettlement in Australia.

The government says the policies are necessary to stop asylum seekers drowning aboard the unseaworthy vessels used by people smugglers to ship them from Indonesia to Australia